Molecular epidemiology and clinical manifestations of viral gastroenteritis in hospitalized pediatric patients in Northern Taiwan.

By reverse transcription-PCR or PCR, among 257 children with nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis (AGE), rotavirus, norovirus, astrovirus, enteric adenovirus, and multiple viruses were identified in 78 (30.4%), 21 (8.2%), 7 (2.7%), 51 (19.8%), and 53 (20.6%) patients, respectively. Higher disease severity was found for AGE caused by multiple viruses and by rotavirus alone. The majority of rotaviruses isolated from 2004 to 2006 belonged to genotypes G1 (20.4%), G2 (16.5%), G3 (27.2%), and G9 (21.4%).